Archive for the ‘Local Birds’ Category

Thought I’d toss up a couple shots of our most recent guests. male & female calliope hummingbirds (Stellula calliope) Black-Chinned Hummingbird (Archilochus alexandri) To all good Mom’s out there Happy Mother’s Day! Footnote: I’d like to say upfront I did not handle any of the birds here nor did I photo-shop – I just fed […]

Okay quick and true story….. I’ll subtitle it; “The Rural Conundrum: Clean Windows to See the Neat View or Dirty Windows to Prolong the Life of Wild Birds?” Yep, I heard that light thunk near my kitchen window and just knew a bird had slammed into it. With all the bird food I put out […]

I did not need the reminder that spring was six weeks away…. I found that even when Phil states that we are having an early spring it has no bearing on my life; the dramatic claim does little in terms of thawing ice and snow …. at this point I just sing Christmas carols to […]

Let’s talk birds… I kept putting out seeds and in December, when six feet of snow fell and the temps dropped to six below, I felt pretty happy I did. The chickadee’s, red-breasted nuthatches and a few dark eye’d juncos fed, then “slept,” then fed, then “slept” and well, you get the basic idea. (That also seems to be […]

When I posted the bird shots I was saddened that I had not seen in the last couple of days the cross bills however, they must have been hanging out at my feeder about the city equivalent of five blocks away. I keep one feeder far away from the house and hike the birdfeed in […]

Recently taking bird shots have been difficult; the primary reason is we’ve hit rainy season so really good – bright eye’d shots have been almost impossible with little or no sun in the sky. Nevertheless I’ll update you on the guys still hanging around. At the feeders themselves we have the typical Pine siskin’s in […]

What does pizza delivery have in common with sugar water? Well in the spring hummingbirds are choosing mates and when they do finding an easy food source is pretty important. Normally they have a half acre territory of flowers that the males guard so that when the females fly through and see all the flowers […]

Amazing little mini-miracles of nature! I’m still seeing both the calliope and rufous hummingbirds but a new guy (and accompanying ladies) have come to the feeders in a frenzy. They feed each morning and every night and now finally there are enough of them to outwit and out number the two rufous hummingbirds who feel […]

My husband is priming the boat to get it ready for a trip out on the water. I’m super excited about fishing again! Hopefully this year is a bit better out on the water. … meanwhile,… back to the wildflowers. Tall Western Groundsel (Senecio integerrimus) And here is a telling shot of the plants design. […]